President Donald Trump has insisted that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon” as strikes have spread across the Middle East.
The US leader appeared to backtrack from an earlier threat of massive strikes and said that discussions had been going “well”.
“They are talking to us right now. They’d love to make a deal. I don’t think they’re ready to. I don’t think it’s time yet, but I’m willing to listen,” he said in remarks at the White House on Friday.
“But they cannot have a nuclear weapon. We don’t want to see Washington DC, or any of our cities, or Israel, or frankly the Middle East, destroyed with a nuclear weapons, because I know the power of nuclear weapons.”
Conflict has spread across the Middle East as Yemen’s Houthi rebel group and Saudi Arabia exchanged strikes overnight.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan after targets in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida and a nearby island were hit by Saudi on Friday.
Accusing Riyadh of a “dangerous escalation”, they had warned the attacks would not go “unanswered”.
The Houthis have threatened a maritime blockade in the Red Sea, impacting Saudi shipping.
Trump went on expletive-laden rant against ‘scumbags’ in Iran as his frustration with war mounts: report
President Donald Trump unleashed an expletive-filled rant against Iran’s leaders as he appears to be increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress in the war he started earlier this year, according to a report.
During a recent Oval Office meeting, the president called the Iranian leaders “scumbags” and “lunatics,” a person who overheard the remarks told The Wall Street Journal.
Roughly five months into the U.S.-Iran conflict, there has been limited progress on a peace deal, which has seen lengthy negotiations between the two sides.
Rebecca Whittaker26 July 2026 03:00
Watch: Trump inflates Vietnam war dead number by 142,000 as he defends Iran deaths
Rebecca Whittaker26 July 2026 02:00
Experts warn the real pinch from the Iran war is about to strike
US gas prices will continue climbing for weeks — and maybe months — due to the resumption of President Donald Trump’s war against Iran, experts warn.
Patrick DeHaan, petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, said Friday on social media that while oil prices were “taking a breather for today” after recently surging by $20 a barrel, he’s still expecting the national average cost of a gallon of gas to soon reach $4.20 to $4.30.
Rebecca Whittaker26 July 2026 01:00
Watch: Trump says Iran war ‘going extremely well’ but warns regime has ‘evil intentions’
Rebecca Whittaker26 July 2026 00:00
Pictured: Protesters in Seoul denouncing the US attacks on Iran
Rebecca Whittaker25 July 2026 23:00
Recap: Houthis fire missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in response to strikes on a Yemeni city
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said that they fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi airstrikes on the strategic Red Sea city of Hodeida, in another escalation over vital shipping routes in the Middle East while the United States and Iran vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) spokesperson, Brigadier General Yahya Saree said in a prerecorded statement that the attack targeted facilities in the Red Sea cities of Yanbu and Jizan that belong to Aramco, the world’s largest oil company.
Saudi Arabia’s civil defense said alerts sounded multiple times early Saturday in both cities, but the Kingdom hasn’t commented further.
Rebecca Whittaker25 July 2026 22:00
Watch: Rubio says Iran suffering in US strikes despite ‘stupid Lego videos’
Rebecca Whittaker25 July 2026 21:00
Houthis fire missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in response to strikes on a Yemeni city
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Saturday that they fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia in response to Saudi airstrikes on the strategic Red Sea city of Hodeida, in another escalation over vital shipping routes in the Middle East while the United States and Iran vie for control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Rebecca Whittaker25 July 2026 20:30
Who are the Houthis? How rebel group could disrupt global trade amid Strait of Hormuz chaos
The Yemeni rebel group was formed in the 1990s as a political-religious Shia movement orchestrating a series of guerrilla wars against Yemen’s national army.
They currently control significant parts of northwestern Yemen, including its capital Sana’a, after seizing it following the country’s 2014 civil war when they forced the government to step down.
A Saudi-led, western-backed coalition took over, which the Houthis have spent years fighting with the assistance of Iran, before a UN-brokered deal in 2022. A Saudi and UAE bombing campaign against Houthi targets was launched in 2015 and drew criticism over civilian deaths, leading to calls for the UK to cease arms exports to Saudi Arabia.
Rebecca Whittaker25 July 2026 20:00
Watch: US military says it completed 13th night of strikes against Iran
Rebecca Whittaker25 July 2026 19:30





